Furyk races to lead at Tour Championship
Golf: Jim Furyk, the only American on the Ryder Cup team without a win this year, put himself in position Friday to join them.
Furyk made seven birdies through 10 holes at East Lake – including seven 3s to start the round – until he missed a few greens on the back nine that slowed his momentum.
He wound up with a 6-under-par 64, giving him a 133 and a one-shot lead over Justin Rose going into the weekend at the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Rose, who shared the 18-hole lead with Tiger Woods, made four birdies on the back nine and holed a 6-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 68.
Woods went the other direction and sits six shots behind.
Rory McIlroy, who is leading the FedEx Cup, had a 68 and was only four shots behind.
• Thompson remains on top in Alabama: Defending champion Lexi Thompson shot a 3-under 69 to take a one-stroke lead into weekend play in the Navistar LPGA Classic in Prattville, Ala.
The 17-year-old Thompson had a 12-under 132 total on the links-style Senator course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex.
Mindy Kim and Mi Jung Hur were a stroke back. They played in the same group and each shot 65.
Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 73 and sits seven shots back. She made the cut.
NHL players say lockout is illegal
NHL: Lawyers for players on the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames are trying to have the NHL lockout declared illegal under Alberta law.
The NHL has argued before the Alberta Labour Relations Board that a league spanning two countries cannot operate under different laws for each team.
Orange Bowl deal affects playoff plans
College Football: A pending deal to restrict access to the Orange Bowl is one of the key reasons conference commissioners are leaning toward adding another game to the new college football postseason system.
The original plan for the four-team playoff that will replace the Bowl Championship Series in 2014 called for the national semifinals rotating among six marquee games.
Now it looks as if the rotation will consist of seven games. The conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director met earlier this week and tweaking the original proposal to add another game was discussed.
Mother claims abuse from Gillispie
College Basketball: The mother of a teenager at Billy Gillispie’s summer basketball camp claims in a letter to a top school administrator that the former Texas Tech coach repeatedly verbally abused her son, according to a document obtained by the Associated Press.
The woman wrote that other coaches at the camp told her 17-year-old son that Gillispie “likes to pick someone and try to ‘break them’ for some reason,” and that the young man “wasn’t doing anything wrong.”
• Summit League axes acronyms: The Summit League has decided to call three of its teams by the last name of the university on first reference.
The University of Nebraska-Omaha is just Omaha, the University of Missouri-Kansas City is Kansas City, and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne is Fort Wayne.
The change is meant to highlight the conference’s big cities, as well as make the schools more nationally recognizable. It follows the lead of other conferences and schools throughout the country.
UCI backs off amnesty idea
Cycling: The International Cycling Union backed away from the idea of an amnesty or truth and reconciliation commission for riders who took performance-enhancing drugs.
At its annual congress, the UCI adopted a motion calling on the governing body to deal with current doping cases and “ignore attempts to exploit commercially or otherwise the painful aspects of cycling’s past.”
• Federal lawmakers want stronger oversight of USADA: Two federal lawmakers called for Congress to have stronger oversight of the anti-doping agency that accused Lance Armstrong of using performance-enhancing drugs and stripped him of his seven Tour de France victories.
London Olympics documents stolen
Miscellany: In an embarrassing episode for the host of the next Summer Olympics, 10 employees of Rio de Janeiro’s 2016 committee have been fired after being caught stealing computer files from British organizers during the London Games.